Adjustable mannequin



Dec. 27, 1966 M. A. WOLF ADJUSTABLE MANNEQUIN Filed Jan. 25,

l N VENI'OR.

United States Patent 3,294,295 ADJUSTABLE MANNEQUIN Morris A. Wolf, 1545 N. Laurel Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. 90046 Filed Jan. 25, 1965, Ser. No. 427,767 1 Claim. (Cl. 22368) The present invention relates generally to garment display mannequins and, more particularly, to mannequins for the display of shirts, sweaters, jackets and other similar garments.

Upper garments, as a class, vary in length in accordance with the species of garment under consideration. For example, a conventional mans dress shirt or womans blouse, although it may have shirttails, has a display length from the shoulders to the waistline, the tails, if any, being tucked away. An over-blouse or jacket-shirt (frequently referred to as a jac-shirt) is displayed fulllength and is slightly longer in display length than a dress shirt or blouse. Sweaters also are displayed full length and, as a class, vary in length, a cardigan, for example, usually being of greater length than a pullover sweater. Finally, jackets are usually longer than any of the other upper garments.

For the effective display of any of these garments, it is highly desirable that a display form of the precisely correct height or length be used but, in the past, this has not been economically feasible. Thus, a display director or window dresser will make do with the materials at hand and, for example, will use a shirt form for the display of a pullover sweater or jac-shirt. For longer sweaters or jackets, a dresser may not employ any mannequin at all, preferring rather to support the garment on a hanger or drape it over an article of furniture. Accordingly, in the past a skilled window dresser has been required to effectively display an upper garment on a form not specially adapted for the garment.

An object of my invention is to provide a display mannequin that can be used by unskilled persons for showing an upper garment of any length and which in every case can be adjusted to precisely the correct length appropriate for the species of garment to be worn. The mannequin is thus adapted to wear shirts, jac-shirts, sweaters or jackets, eliminates the necessity for single-purpose forms, and avoids the expedient of utilizing a single-purpose form for display of a garment for which it is not adapted.

Another object of my invention is to provide a multipurpose display mannequin for upper garments that incorporates a means for readily adjusting the mannequin to the proper height or length, which adjustment can be made both before and after the mannequin has been dressed with the garment.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a multipurpose display form of this character having two sections which can be angularly adjusted relative to one another whereby the garment displayed thereon can be shown with a slight twist, if desired, at the waist.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of a presently preferred embodiment thereof, when taken in conjunction with the annexed drawing.

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a mannequin embodying the invention;

FIGURE '2 is a vertical sectional view of the mannequin of FIGURE 1, taken in a plane approximately bisecting the shoulders of the mannequin;

FIGURE 3 is a top view of the mannequin, adjusted to give a slight twist at the waist;

FIGURE 4 shows the use of a portion of the mannequin as a shirt display form; and

FIGURE 5 illustrates the use of three such mannequins as shown in FIGURE 1, in differently adjusted positions for the display of three different species of upper garment.

While the invention is shown in the drawing and will be described herein as embodied in a mans mannequin, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention may equally well be embodied in ladies or childrens mannequins. Furthermore, while the configuration of the mannequin is of the type known as full round, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to this configuration but may be embodied in other configurations.

The mannequin includes an upper form 10 and a lower form 111, both of which are hollow shells mounted on a tube 12. While this assembly is self-supporting, it may also be employed in combination with a stand comprising a base 13 centrally supporting an upright vertically extending pole 14 that is telescopically receivable in the tube 12.

The upper form 10 and lower form 11 may be made of any suitable material, for example, papier-mach, and both are preferably of full round configuration. Thus, the upper form 10 is like a shirt display form, simulating the human figure from approximately waist level up to the neck and is open at its bottom end so that the tails of the shirt can be tucked thereinto when used separately as a shirt display form, as shown in FIGURE 4. The neck of the upper form 10 is internally reinforced as With a block of wood 15 and surmounted with a decorative cap (16 having a hook 17 by means of which the mannequin can be hung for display rather than setting it on a table or the like.

As the mannequin is used with upper garments of a variety of sleeve lengths, it is preferably provided with a pair of arms 18, preferably of a type that are detachably connected to the upper form 10 and that may be adjusted to difl'erent lengths. Detachable arms and arms of different lengths are known to the art and accordingly the arms 18 will not be described in detail. The upper form 10 may be internally reinforced to take the arms with blocks of wood .19 at the shoulders, adhesively or'otherwise secured in place. A T-nut 20 is fastened on the inner face of each block 19 to threadedly receive a securing bolt 21 comprising a terminal portion of one of the arms 18.

The lower form 11 of the mannequin is also of full round configuration, simulating the waist of the human figure and a portion of the hips immediately beneath the waist. Thus, the lower form 11 has a top wall 22, which may be plywood, with a skirt portion of papier-mach that gives a full round configuration, and is open at its bottom end. A bore 23 is approximately centrally formed in the top wall 22 and a flanged collar member 24 is fastened to the underside of the top wall in coaxial alignment with the bore 23. A cylindrical portion 25 of the collar has a tapped bore extending radially through its wall to receive a set screw 26 by means of which the lower form 11 can be secured in an adjusted position relative to the tube 12 which extends through the collar and through the bore 23.

A horizontally disposed member 27, such as a piece of plywood, is fastened within the upper form 10 of the mannequin, spaced above the open lower end, and is centrally formed with a bore 28 in coaxial alignment with the bore 23 in the top wall of the lower form 11. Another flanged collar 29 is secured to the bottom of the member 27 in coaxial alignment with the bore 28 and receives the upper end portion of the tube 12. This collar is also formed with a radially disposed tapped bore through the wall of a cylindrical portion 30 to mount a set screw 31, whose outer end is provided with a large handle 32 to make the set screw easily operable for the purpose of adjusting the upper form 10 upwardly or downwardly on the tube 12 to a desired position relative to the lower form 11.

Adjacent its extreme lower end, the tube 12 is formed with a hole in its wall over which a nut 33 is coaxially secured to the exterior of the tube, as by welding. This nut mounts another set screw 34 whose outer end is also provided with a large handle 35. The post 14 of the stand is telescopically receivable within the tube 12 so that the tube and the forms 10 and 11 carried thereby can be held in an adjusted position on the post 14 by means of the set screw 34.

As is now apparent, the upper form 10 and lower form 11 can be adjusted vertically relative to one another so that the hem of the upper garment on display will at all times be disposed flush with the lower edge of the lower form 11. With some types of garments, as for example a jac-shirt of short length, the upper form 10 may be resting directly on top of and in contact with the lower form 11 to bring the hem of the garment even with the lower edge of the lower form 11. With other types of jac-shirts, as for example in FIGURE 5a, the upper form will have to be adjusted upwardly relative to the lower form 11, before the hem is even with the lower edge of the lower form. With a sweater, the spacing between the upper form and lower form may have to be even greater, and this is illustrated in FIGURE 5b. The greatest spacing is required with garments such as jackets and this is illutrated in FIGURE 50.

In the use of the mannequin, the lower form 11 is preferably adjusted to a lowermost position on the tube 12 so that the flanged collar 24 rests on top of the nut 33. The set screw 26 should be securely fastened to the tube 12 when the lower form 11 is in this lowermost position on the tube, as the nut 33, set screw 34 and large handle 35 will then be concealed within the skirt of the lower portion. To preserve this adjustment, the screw 26 is headless so that users will tend to avoid the screw 26 in favor of the handle 35 on the screw 34.

Before the mannequin is dressed, the forms 10 and 11 are first adjusted to the approximate length of the garment. Preferably, this is always accomplished by first loosening the set screw 31 by operation of the handle 32 within the upper form 10 of the mannequin, this adjustment means also being concealed within the lower end of the upper form. When a relatively short jac-shirt is to be displayed, the space between the upper form 10 and lower form 11 may be so narrow as to make it difficult to merely reach through the bottom open end of the upper form 11). Therefore, an access opening 36 is provided in the top wall 22 of the lower form, sufiiciently large to allow a hand to pass therethrough to reach the handle 32 in the upper portion. This access opening may also be used in making fine adjustments of the upper form 10 relative to the lower form 11 after the mannequin has been dressed. When the proper overall length of the mannequin has been determined, the handle 32 is actuated to clamp the set screw 31 against the wall of the tube 12. Before the set screw 31 is tightened, if it desired to dispose the upper form 4 10 angularly with respect to the lower portion 11, as indicated in FIGURE 3, so as to display the garment with a slight twist of the hips, the upper form 10 should be shifted angularly before the set screw is tightened.

While the presently preferred embodiment of the invention has been disclosed and described herein, the invention is not limited to the various details of construction set forth, but only by the spirit and scope of the following claim.

I claim:

A mannequin for the display of upper garments of different lengths comprising:

a full round hollow upper form simulating .a human figure from the waist to the neck and having an open lower end in a horizontal plane;

a member affixed Within said upper form and spaced above the open lower end of said upper form;

a full round hollow l-ower form simulating a human figure from hip level to waist level and having an open lower end at said hip level in a horizontal plane, the upper end of said lower form being closed by a horizontally disposed top wall;

a vertically extending tubular member that is slidably mounted through both said member of said upper form and said top wall of said lower form;

a clamping means affixed to the lower surface of said member in said upper, form that is releasably engageable with said vertically disposed tubular mem-. ber for adjusting the vertical spacing between said upper form and said lower form or for supporting said upper form in contacting superposition of its horizontal open lower end on said horizontal top wall of said lower form; and

a clamping means secured to the underside of said top wall of said lower form that is releasably engageable with said vertically extending tubular member, said last-mentioned clamping means being concealed from View within said lower form, said top wall of said lower form being provided with an opening whereby access may be had through the open bottom end of said lower form and through said top wall of said lower form for releasing and engaging said clamping means in said upper form, while the mannequin is wearing an upper garment, for adjusting the overall length of the mannequin to dispose the hem of the garment in said horizontal plane of the lower end of said lower form.

848,274 10/1939 France. 1,075,808 10/1954 France.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner, G- V,- LA sla f E amin r.- 

